Today, my client finally asked me to help her decorate for Halloween. In years past, this activity would have been done on October 1st (to maximize the full 31 days of October). But it’s been a weird year and many are wondering if they should even go trick-or-treating during CoVid. Did you hear that some cities cancelled Halloween and are urging people to stay home? While others jumped wholeheartedly onto the Halloween fun wagon, everyone is stressing CoVid etiquette (of wearing masks, using hand sanitizer, keeping 6 feet of distance from non-household people, and gathering in groups of 10 or less).
Also, have you heard about the unusual occurrences taking place this year on Halloween? (1) It’s a Saturday (yippee!); (2) it’s daylight savings time (gain an hour); AND (3) there’s a full moon. Part of me worries for the ER nurses who are working that Saturday, while the rest of me feels I should hunker down inside my apartment on October 31st and just wait for the night to pass (who am I kidding? I am 100% dressing up in costume and celebrating this holiday).
How about you? Have you decided if you’ll dress up this year? What about the kiddos? Are you comfortable taking them trick-or-treating (or letting them go on their own)? Will you pass out candy to other trick-or-treaters?
If you decide to go Trick-or-Treating during CoVid, here are a few fun suggestions:
How to Pass Out Candy to the Kiddos:
- Place a table close to the sidewalk, with the candy in individually wrapped bags.
- Reverse trick-or-treat from a vehicle (pass/toss candy to kids that are walking on the sidewalks, like a parade)
- Create a zipline that delivers candy for the kids and BEER for the adults:
- Stick candy in pumpkins so the children can pull out individual pieces (and not touch all the other candy):
- Create a candy slide that delivers candy from 6 feet away:
- Create a candy table, hedge, or graveyard according to Oriental Trading:
- Place a bottle of hand sanitizer next to your candy station
How to Collect Candy
- Buy the kids a candy grabber:
- Open a pillow case wide and ask them to toss the candy to you from 6 feet away. Move the pillow case to correct for throwing errors.
- Buy the candy for your kid and have them go up to each driveway, say a loud, “trick-or-treat” to the homeowners sitting 10 feet into the yard, but then you give them candy from your own stash (similarly, throw away all the candy they collect and replace it with your own stash).
- Wear gloves or use hand sanitizer
Lower Risk Activities
If you aren’t feeling the trick-or-treating, here are some lower risk Halloween activities you can still do:
- Decorate! like we did today, inside and outside the home
- Bake and decorate cookies or cupcakes
- Carve pumpkins
- Watch a Halloween movie-a-thon: Hocus Pocus, Nightmare Before Christmas, Halloween, A Quiet Place (sooooo good!), Saw
- Virtual activities: Halloween bash, dance party, costume contest, happy hour, etc.
Further Reading:
Here’s what the CDC recommends as safe guidelines as well as additional Halloween activities.
In conclusion, if you decide to go trick-or-treating during CoVid, remember to wear masks, use hand sanitizer, keep 6 feet of distance from non-household people, gather in groups of 10 or less, and try not to touch your face. Most importantly, post pictures below of you dressed up with friends and family!
Want to learn, How to Organize For YOU? Read another blog post here.